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Sources for Biographic Info
Interviews
Assorted Articles
Tour Info
Concert Reviews
CD Reviews
Places With Pictures
Guitar Tablature
Places to Buy Iris’ CDs Online
General and Tangential
The Cream of the Crop!
Jarmode: This site (run by Janet Jarmann and Jack Cormode) was probably the first page on the web for Iris
David Kelman’s Iris DeMent Webpage: David gives his take on Iris and provides album info
Here is music critic Dave Marsh’s take on Iris (two pages) from the Addicted to Noise site (also, another article from ATN).
Iris was the featured musician for National Public Radio’s show “Anthem” on March 28, 1998. She was interviewed by Bonnie Grice and performed `Let the Mystery Be’, `Mama’s Opry’, `When My Mornin’ Comes Around’ and `I’ll Take My Sorrow Straight’. Click here to listen to her entire appearance (in two parts: 5 and 16 minutes) using RealAudio
Iris’ complete 78 minute performance at The 32nd Annual Kent State Folk Festival (September 11, 1998) can be heard using RealAudio by following this link and clicking on the “Listen” link (thanks to WKSU)
Here’s a “bulletin board” for Iris on iMusic: look for and share info with other Iris fans!
Google took over the old Deja News search engine for Usenet posts. It still works (though with much fewer features than before).
Sources for Biographic Information
The All-Music Guide bio and discography
Here’s a bio on Iris from Music Boulevard…
…and another from the Arlington, Texas-based paper The Star-Telegram
The Edmonton Folk Music Festival offers some performer-info in conjunction with her 1997 appearance there
Launch.com has biography, discography, reviews, and music.
CMT artist profile.
An interview at home (October 1996) from Country Standard Time
Cincinnati City Beat Magazine offers this interview with Iris from their May 9-15, 1996 issue
Iris was one of several artists interviewed in “chat” format at a 1997 tribute concert for Steve Goodman
An interview with Iris from March 1997 (located on the Jarmode site)
Western Michigan University’s “Western Herald” has an interview with Iris in conjunction with her April 1997 appearance at The State Theatre with Leo Kottke
The Progressive Populist based in Austin, TX and Storm Lake, IA has an informative interview conducted in April of 1997
UNo MAS Magazine has a phone interview with Iris from June of 1997
The Orange County Times’ Jennifer Vineyard calls Iris the “Orange County’s Patsy Cline” in this interview promoting her January 1998 appearance at The Coach House in San Juan Capistrano, CA
The World Socialist Web Site has a write-up on Iris followed by a telephone interview conducted on April 12, 1998 after her appearance at The Basement in Sydney, Australia (thanks to Richard Phillips for offering the link)
An interview of Iris from an October 2002 issue of The Kansas City Star. NEW!
Karla Peterson of the San Diego Union/Tribune wrote this nice article about Iris in conjunction with her performance at The Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach, CA (August 1993). Note that one of the opening acts was none other than Jewel Kilcher!
Two Backsliders: a Village Voice rant about Iris and Sam Phillips from August 9, 1994
Here’s a coupla news articles from Canadian periodicals via CANOE (Canadian Online Explorer)
KLRU-TV (PBS Online) has some info about Iris & Nanci Griffith’s August 1994 (aired in 1995) appearance on Austin City Limits as well as Iris performing with Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson and Freddie Powers others in November 1995 (aired in 1996). Be sure to check out the audio clips and press releases as well as their artist profile on Iris
An article from The Detroit News on Iris and Chet Atkins January 19, 1996
Michigan Daily Online has a 1996 article on Iris with interview snippets and bio info (written by Jennifer Buckley)
The website for A Prairie Home Companion has an artist bio for Iris as well as a show transcript for her appearance with Leo Kottke on May 24, 1997 including some RealAudio samples of the show (though not all of Iris’ songs are represented)
Iris played at a tribute show for the late Steve Goodman (famous for his song `City of New Orleans’) on November 13th, 1997 with Lyle Lovett, Emmylou Harris, Arlo Guthrie, Kathy Matthea, John Prine, Todd Snider and Jackson Browne
An article from Mojo Magazine about Iris’ appearance at The Queen Elizabeth Hall, London in February of 1998 (submitted by Peer Bataille)
Dr. Stephen Noll of The Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry penned this article entitled “Iris DeMent and the Lost Soul of Liberalism” in December of 1998
Mark Ferguson has a concert review of a show he saw at The Old Vienna Kaffeehaus in Westboro, MA on July 9, 1994
There are concert reviews of past shows that Iris has done with John Prine at The Wise Old Geezer site
A review for a show at The Side Door Club in St. Louis, MO on April 16, 1996 from Country Standard Time
The Los Angeles Times (Orange County edition) offered this article prior to her January 1998 appearance at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano, CA
SFweekly.com has a review of Iris’ appearance at The First Congregational Church in Berkeley, CA on January 19, 1998
Al Moir wrote this review of a show at City Varieties, Leeds, U.K. 2/27/98 for Country Music People Magazine (April 1998 issue; thanks go out to Colin Thursby for submitting this)
Fellow Iris-fan Tom Jackson sent in this review of a show he saw at The University of Arizona on March 13, 1998
Here’s a review of the show Iris did at The Unitarian Universalist Neighbourhood Church in Pasadena, CA on July 17, 1998 from Dan MacIntosh of Country Standard Time
Reviews of “Infamous Angel”, “My Life” and “The Way I Should” (from various sources) can be found at CD Now
Denver’s Westworld.Com has a brief review of “The Way I Should” (towards bottom of the page). They also offer an article regarding her 2/21/97 appearance with The Troublemakers
Here are some assorted reviews of “The Way I Should” from The Chicago Reader, Mr. Showbiz, Boston Phoenix and The Music Monitor
A review of the “Tulare Dust” Merle Haggard tribute CD at WCMR.Com, including a sound clip of `Big City’ (Iris’ contribution to the album)
Reviews of “The Songs of Jimmie Rodgers: A Tribute” from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette and The Houston Chronicle. Two good write-ups about the album are available from The Boston Herald and The Los Angeles Times. Other information on the album at Jimmierodgers.Com including audio clips
Marc Marnie has a very nice black and white photo of Iris backstage at The Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
ASCAP’s Playback Magazine has a picture of Iris with David Gates and others at a Las Vegas convention
There’s a Jimmie Dale Gilmore page that has a rather blurry picture of Iris on stage in Halden, Norway
On this site dedicated to Warner-Western recording artists Bill and Bonnie Hearne you can find a photos of Iris and Jim Rooney, who produced of her first two albums. There are also shots of Nanci Griffith and Lyle Lovett, who have recorded with (and been covered by) the duo
The Austin Chronicle provides a live shot from The Texas Union Ballroom on February 25, 1997
Owen Brennan has a nice page about Iris and her tour to Ireland here.
Guitar Tablature (Note: Most of these sites/links are no longer valid. I’ve recovered some from the Web Archive and am adding them to the site as posts under a “music-sheets-and-tablature” category as time allows. Click here to browse the posts in that category.) https://www.irisdement.net/category/music-sheets-and-tablature/
Here’s the guitar tablature for `Our Town’, `Let the Mystery Be’, `Hotter Than Mojave in My Heart’, `Troublesome Waters’, `Sweet is the Melody’, `Calling for You’, `Childhood Memories’, `The Way I Should’, `Wasteland of the Free’ and `When My Mornin’ Comes Around’ from The On-line Guitar Library (OLGA)…
…and the tab for `The Shores of Jordan’, originally posted on the now defunct The Gospel Music Archive
…and here’s the tab for `When I Was Yours’, an Emmylou Harris song that Iris sometimes performs in concert
Places to Buy Iris’ Albums Online
Amazon.Com has sound bites from all of Iris’ albums as well as track info
CD Universe also has sound clips, track info and other amplifying info for each album including critical acclaim
CDnow has pretty good info on each album (IA, ML, TWIS) including many excerpts of critical reviews from various periodicals; decent prices, too
Harmony Ridge Music: They also have used CD’s where you can occasionally find rare stuff like CD singles
Ladyslipper Music is a great place to go for finding music by Iris and all your other favourite female artists
Village Records is run by fellow Iris DeMent mailing-list members Bill Lavery and Corky Carrel. They specialize in Folk and Americana artists and offer lots of hard-to-find rarities (check out the import section for rare concerts on CD!); located in Shawnee Mission, KS but online ordering is offered
You can purchase the various “Mountain Stage” live compilation CD’s that Iris appears on from Blue Plate Music
Here’s a link to The Ultimate Band List’s card for Iris
The FolkLib Index entry on Iris
Rolling Stone Online’s index for Iris
The TV show that was many people’s first “exposure” to Iris: *1*
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